US ship with equipment to build pier on way to Gaza, part of plan to ramp up aid

A US Army vessel carrying equipment for building a temporary pier in Gaza was on its way to the Mediterranean on Sunday (Mahmoud Essa/AP)

A US Army vessel carrying equipment for building a temporary pier in Gaza was on its way to the Mediterranean on Sunday, three days after President Joe Biden announced plans to ramp up aid deliveries by sea to the besieged enclave where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have been going hungry.

The opening of the sea corridor, along with airdrops by the US, Jordan and others, shows increasing alarm over Gaza’s humanitarian crisis and a new willingness to bypass Israeli control over land shipments.